News Update for Wednesday, October 04

Nothing Defined

The Senate has postponed to October 17 their decision to vote on the Supreme Court’s order for Aécio to step down from his seat. In the lower house, attention is focused on the removal of Congressman Andrada from his position as chairman of the committee analyzing the second indictment of President Temer. On the other hand, the bill creating a fund for political parties will be voted on today. The nation’s lawmakers are in a race against the clock to approve the changes in time for next year’s elections.

Vegas Shooting Meticulously planned

Before killing almost 60 people and injuring hundreds more, Stephen C. Paddock created a ring of surveillance with video cameras, allowing him to monitor the arrival of the police. Investigators still have no clue as to what motivated him to carry out this massacre. The cameras, along with the 23 guns, ammunition and other equipment found in his hotel suite, suggest a carefully prepared plan to do as much damage as possible, while keeping the police at bay. Several of the rifles used a device allowing them to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, which explains the devastation he was able to cause. This has triggered a fresh uproar for Washington to pass more gun regulations.

Trump in Puerto Rico

President Trump told Puerto Rican residents that officials should be proud that relatively few people died in the storm, unlike the thousands in “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” That hurricane claimed 1,833 lives. In Puerto Rico, the death toll has risen to 34. Almost 95 percent of the island is still without power, and more than half of the households have no running water or cellphone service.

The King Steps In

King Felipe VI of Spain addressed the nation on television, accusing Catalon’s separatist leaders of “inadmissible disloyalty.” The speech, in which he warned of economic and social disruption, came after separatists blocked dozens of roads in Catalonia. More than half of eligible Catalan voters did not vote on Sunday, some out of loyalty to Spain, and other because the police prevented them from voting.